1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to devices that reduce toxins in tobacco smoke. More particularly, it relates to a device that at least partially filters unhealthy substances such as tar from tobacco smoke.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art most relevant to the present disclosure is believed to be a water pipe disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,686 to Murray, Jr. The device disclosed by Murray, Jr. has utility as a pipe for smoking loose leaf tobacco. It constrains smoke from tobacco leaves to flow through water so that the smoke is cleansed by the time it reaches the smoker. However, the Murray, Jr. device has no utility in connection with cigarettes.
What is needed, then, is a water pipe construction that has utility as a loose leaf tobacco water pipe and as a cigarette water pipe as well.
Upon fulfillment of that need, there then exists a need for a water pipe that removes some tar and other undesirable toxins from loose leaf tobacco and cigarette smoke.
The Murray, Jr. water pipe and other known water pipes are relatively large in size.
As a result, they are burdensome to carry and cannot be stored in convenient places such as the inside of a cigarette pack.
A water pipe about a fourth or a third the size of the Murray, Jr. water pipe would be desirable for several reasons. For example, a smaller water pipe would be easier to carry and could fit into a cigarette pack. Moreover, if overturned or turned onto its side, there would be less water to spill. However, if a water pipe such as the Murray, Jr. water pipe is simply scaled down in size, then the smoke pipe thereof would be unacceptably short. A short smoke pipe would position a flame source too close to a user""s face when loose leaf tobacco is lit.
Accordingly, there is a need for a water pipe construction having a small structure but which positions the user""s face a safe distance away from a flame source when the water pipe is used.
A small water pipe would be easily lost. A need therefore exists for a means that makes it easier for the owner of a small water pipe to avoid losing it.
Prior art water pipes lack means for holding a cigarette and therefore lack means for aligning a cigarette so that it is always a maximum distance from the user""s face. Ideally, the face of the smoker should be diametrically opposed to the cigarette when a water pipe is in use. A need therefore exists for a water pipe structure that positions a cigarette one hundred eighty degrees (180xc2x0) from the smoker""s face.
It is also difficult to fill a prior art water pipe to the proper level. Conventional water pipes typically include a fill-indicator line etched into the interior wall of the structure, but such line is hard to see.
A better means for indicating the ideal water level within a water pipe is therefore needed.
However, in view of the prior art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art how the identified needs could be met.
The long-standing but heretofore unfulfilled need for a water pipe having dual utility as a loose leaf tobacco water pipe and as a cigarette water pipe is now met by a new, useful, and nonobvious invention. The novel device also allows smokers to continue smoking loose leaf tobacco and cigarettes while having some of the negative health aspects thereof reduced.
The pipe includes a container having a flat, imperforate bottom wall. A substantially cylindrical sidewall is mounted about the periphery of the imperforate bottom wall and projects upwardly therefrom to define a container cavity that is adapted to hold a predetermined amount of liquid fluid, preferably water.
A vent means is formed in the substantially cylindrical sidewall of the container and a smoke tube is pivotally secured to the container. The smoke tube has a first, deployed position where a lumen thereof is disposed in fluid communication with the vent means and has a second, storage position where said lumen is not in fluid communication with the vent means. The smoke tube has a distal free end adapted to be placed between the lips of a smoker when the smoke tube is in the first, deployed position.
Significantly, the novel water pipe has about one third to one-fourth the volume of the Murray, Jr. water pipe. This is achieved, in part, by providing a smoke tube of telescopic construction. When fully extended, the length of the smoke tube is sufficient to position the water pipe at a safe distance from the smoker""s face. When fully retracted, the smoke tube fits into a truncate storage area. The novel water pipe is so small that it fits into a standard cigarette pack (the pack that holds twenty cigarettes) after a few cigarettes have been removed therefrom.
A channel-shaped recess is formed in an exterior surface of the substantially cylindrical sidewall of the container. The recess extends from the container bottom wall to an uppermost end that is spaced slightly downwardly from an uppermost end of the container. The smoke tube is at least partially received within the recess when the smoke tube is in its collapsed, storage position.
A bowl surmounts the container and has a bottom wall with a longitudinally-extending passageway formed therein. A sidewall mounted about a periphery of the bottom wall defines-a bowl cavity adapted to hold loose leaf tobacco. A tubular downspout depends from the bowl; the tubular downspout has a lumen in fluid communication with the passageway. The distal end of the downspout is disposed in the container cavity in predetermined spaced relation to the imperforate bottom wall of the container.
A cigarette-holding adapter means having a hollow interior removably caps the bowl. A hollow neck depends from the hollow adapter means and fits into the bowl cavity. The neck has an external diameter only slightly less than an internal diameter of the bowl cavity and is received within the bowl cavity when the pipe is in a fully assembled configuration. A radial bore is formed in the adapter means and is adapted to snugly receive therein an unlit end of a cigarette. The radial bore is in fluid communication with the hollow interior of the adapter means. A stop means in the hollow interior spaces the unlit end of the cigarette away from the interior wall of the adapter means so that air can circulate through the cigarette as required for combustion.
When the bowl is properly attached to the container in surmounting relation thereto, the bowl is in a preselected position of rotational adjustment.
The adapter means, when properly installed, fits into the bowl in only one rotational position of adjustment so that the radial bore and hence the cigarette it holds are one hundred eighty degrees (180xc2x0) from the smoke tube.
An easily visible protrusion near the bottom of the container indicates the proper water depth for the convenience of the user.
A mounting member having a central opening formed therein is formed on an external surface of the container at the rim thereof so that the novel water pipe may be placed on a key ring, a necklace, or the like, to minimize the chances of loss.
Accordingly, the pipe has utility as a loose leaf tobacco water pipe when the adapter means is not employed and as a cigarette water pipe when the adapter means is employed. In both uses, water is introduced into the container cavity to a predetermined depth sufficient to submerge the distal end of the downspout, such predetermined depth being indicated by the easily visible protrusion.
To use the pipe as a loose leaf tobacco water pipe, the teachings of the Murray, Jr. disclosure are generally followed.
To use the pipe as a cigarette water pipe, the container is filled with water to the proper level, the bowl is screwed onto the container in surmounting relation thereto and in a preselected rotational alignment therewith, the adapter means is properly rotationally aligned with and engaged to the bowl, the unlit end of a cigarette is press fit into the radial bore formed in the adapter means until it abuts the stop member in the hollow interior of the adapter means, the smoke pipe is deployed and telescopically extended, and the cigarette is lit.
In a preferred embodiment, screw threads join the bowl and the container so that the preselected position of rotational adjustment of the bowl relative to the container is achieved when the bowl is fully engaged to the container. This ensures that an adapter-alignment means formed in the bowl will be properly positioned so that when the adapter means is press fit into the bowl, the radial bore into which a cigarette is inserted will be one hundred eighty degrees from a user""s face.
A user deploys the telescoped smoke tube by extending it to its maximum length and applies suction to the distal end of the smoke tube, pulling smoke along a path of travel that begins at the burning end of a cigarette, extends through the length of the cigarette, through the radial bore and into the hollow interior of the adapter means, through the lumen of the downspout, from the submerged distal end of the downspout, through the liquid fluid, into the container cavity, and to the smoker through the vent means and the smoke tube.
Toxins in the smoke are collected to at least some extent by the liquid fluid so that smoke reaching the user has a reduced toxin content relative to smoke that travels directly from a cigarette to a smoker.
A primary:object of the invention is to provide a water pipe having utility as a loose leaf tobacco water pipe and as a cigarette water pipe.
Another major object is to provide a water pipe that reduces the quantity of toxins received by a smoker when smoking.
Another important object is to provide a water pipe that is sufficiently small to fit within a standard cigarette pack.
Still another object is to provide an improved smoke tube so that a smoker""s face is positioned a substantial distance from the water pipe, while still maintaining the small size of the novel water pipe.
Yet another object is to provide a means for positioning a cigarette one hundred eighty degrees from the smoker""s face.
Another object is to provide a water pipe having a structure that better indicates to a user how to properly charge the pipe with water.
Yet another object is to provide a water pipe structure that enables a user to avoid losing the water pipe.
These and other important objects, advantages, and features of the invention will become clear as this description proceeds.
The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts that will be exemplified in the description set forth hereinafter and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.